The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to patient monitoring systems and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to systems and methods for automatic management of patient reflux.
Patients requiring enteral feeding (i.e., feeding via a tube inserted into the stomach) include, for example, babies, patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) which might be sedated and/or intubated, and patients otherwise unable to swallow or ingest food in the normal manner. The tube is inserted into the stomach (or duodenum, or jejunum, or other locations in the digestive track) via the nose, the mouth, or a surgically created opening.
Patients being enterally fed are at risk of aspiration pneumonia due to reflux. Reflux may result from improper enteral feeding.
One method of making decisions regarding enteral feeding involves manually measuring the volume of digestive contents in the patient's stomach after an enteral feeding session, by using a syringe to aspirate the stomach contents. The measured volume is termed Gastric Residual Volume (GRV). The value of the GRV is used by healthcare professional to decide, for example, if the patient received enough food, is having problems ingesting the delivered food, and/or if the patient is at increased risk of aspiration pneumonia. For example, when the measured GRV is above a threshold, the next enteral feeding is delayed. A full assessment using GRV may take up to 72 hours, with 4 hour intervals between GRV measurements.